Nintendo GameCube: Little Cube, Big Impact (Owner Review)
Written: Nov 19 '01 (Updated Nov 21 '01)
Product Rating:
Pros: Strong game lineup, as powerful as other consoles, excellent controller
Cons: Button layout could be awkward, could be too cute for some to take seriously
The Bottom Line: The GameCube may look cute, but it's an excellent, powerful console, and it will be a force to reckon with in the gaming market in the coming months.
Slusy's Full Review: Nintendo GameCube White Console
If there’s one name that’s synonymous with video gaming, it’s Nintendo. They arguably rescued the industry from disaster in the mid-1980s, and have consistently been a leader in the console market ever since, even despite the recent losing battle between the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation. Thus, when they release a new system, and more so a new console, it’s a true event. The latest of these was on November 18th, 2001, when Nintendo released its GameCube to a hungry public. Even despite a strong release of Microsoft’s Xbox just three days prior, there were still people waiting in line for hours prior to store openings, in the hopes of being the first to get their hands on this new morsel of gaming goodness.
So what’s all the fuss about? Well, only the most impressive Nintendo system to date, that’s all. The GameCube, while initially odd-looking, is a sleek powerhouse of gaming muscle disguised as a little purple cube. Granted, this machine may seem lightweight compared to its current competitors, given that it can’t play CDs or DVDs, it can’t rip its own soundtracks or wash your dishes or do your homework for you. However, Nintendo, as it always has, chose to concentrate on the games, and not be sidetracked by peripheral matters.
The design of the GameCube accurately reflects this emphasis on making the GameCube something you play with as opposed to something that looks nice on the shelf. The unit comes in two colors, black and indigo, and is, as the name suggests, a cube, much shorter than the other consoles but about twice as thick. It’s cute to look at, sure, but it’s also rather sleek looking at the same time. The box comes standard with four controller ports (no multi-tap here!) and two slots for memory cards on the front face. The fact that the slot for memory cards is in the system rather than the controller is a big plus, as far as I’m concerned, because with the Dreamcast (and N64, to a lesser extent), it was a real pain making sure to plug the right controller into the right port for any given game in order to auto-load that save data.
The top of the cube features power, reset, and open buttons, all of which are fairly standard. The disc tray opens from the top, and there’s a button in the middle of the cylinder that holds the discs for releasing the discs; this isn’t a necessity, but it’s a nice feature. The discs are, as has been discussed widely, mini-DVDs, each of which holds about 1.5 GB of data. Other than storing them in a book as opposed to the DVD-style cases they come in, there’s really no downside to this format. The only one that could potentially rear its ugly head would be an upper limit on game size, as was the case with the N64’s cartridge format. However, the advantage of a disc-based format is that games can be on multiple discs, while this was not the case with cartridges, so that upper limit can be avoided by simply spreading a game over multiple discs.
The sleek design extends to the controller, which, at first glance looks extremely odd, but ends up being one of the most comfortable controllers I’ve ever laid hands on. The controller looks sort of like a mutant PS2 controller, but with some major differences. The main analog stick and A button are positioned exactly where your thumbs naturally rest when holding the controller normally. This alone adds to much of the comfort; I’ve played for a couple of hours at a time and not felt it (as opposed to the Dreamcast’s controller, which tends to hurt my hands within 20 minutes). Surrounding the main A button are a smaller, circular B button to the lower left, and bean-shaped X and Y buttons to the A button’s left and above it, respectively. Located where the two analog sticks on a PS2 controller would be are a digital pad on the left, and the C-stick, primarily for camera control, on the right. Both are small; the d-pad is roughly the size of that on the Game Boy Advance, and the C-stick is about half the size of the main stick, but they are designed to be used less often, so this small size is appropriate. In the middle is a start/pause button, about half the size of the B button. There are two analog triggers as well, like the Dreamcast’s triggers but much more comfortable, but the interesting thing about these triggers is that they “click in” at maximum pressure. This can add to interesting uses in games, potentially. The last button is the Z button, located on the shoulder in front of the right trigger, and this button seems like an afterthought, as it’s poorly placed and tough to press. I wager that it won’t be used often, however.
The big question about the controller is, how easy is it to adjust to the new layout? For some games, mainly ones designed with the controller in mind, the controller shouldn’t even be an issue. Luigi’s Mansion, for example, was designed specifically for this controller and the control is extremely natural. For ported-over games that were originally designed with a diamond-shaped configuration (as is the case with PS2 and Xbox), the control can feel a bit awkward and raises the learning curve a bit. Tony Hawk 3 has this problem, in that it treats the controller like a diamond configuration and tricks can be harder to pull off as a result. All in all, though, as with any new controller, a few days of adjustment should have you use to using this new controller in no time.
So, enough about the design. How does it run? Well, I am quite impressed. Given the overall quality of the three launch titles I purchased with the system (Luigi’s Mansion, Super Monkey Ball, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3), the GameCube has a bright future ahead of it. The graphics are extremely smooth and crisp, sound is exquisite, and everything runs without missing a beat. Load times are also very short, for the most part, which is a blessing after having to deal with some of the Dreamcast’s seemingly endless load times. I can’t say it’s better than Xbox or even PS2 on its better days, but it certainly keeps pace, and second- and third-generation titles will likely stretch its capabilities even further.
Given the technical similarities between the consoles, then, the real differentiator is the games that will be coming out for the different systems. Granted, Nintendo had lackluster third-party support for the N64, but this was mainly a result of the limitations imposed by the cartridge format. For the GameCube, above and beyond the always-quality first-party games, Nintendo has a number of first-rate licenses lined up, including Sega’s Sonic Team (which makes not only the Sonic games but also the Phantasy Star Online games) and exclusive development of future Resident Evil games. Given the strength of the current launch lineup, including innovative Super Monkey Ball from Sega as well as A-List games like Tony Hawk 3 and console-maker Madden 2002, great things should be coming out for this system.
All in all, Nintendo GameCube may not be the choice for everyone, but it certainly is the best console available, in my personal opinion. Nintendo is a company devoted to gaming first, and they’ve been a constant force to be reckoned with since they released the NES in 1985. After all, if they can hang in for 5 years with a less than optimal console, as they did with the N64, they can certainly be poised to dominate with a powerhouse like the GameCube. It may have a childish image, but the GameCube is a superb console and should definitely not be overlooked by parents shopping for gifts and hardcore gamers alike.
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